Builder Darryl Brewer, of Dunedin, has built his fair share of cow sheds and he used those same skills to help build The Charles Brasch Artist’s Studio in Broad Bay.
"It’s a pole type shed ... same as a farm design. They wanted an industrial look and that’s what they are getting."
The brand new studio had a 24sqm interior space to work and exhibit and a 24sqm covered outdoor space for artists to create sculptures and installations.
Artists Anna and John Caselberg, a painter and writer respectively, lived in the house.Writers including Janet Frame, CK Stead, R.A.K. Mason and Ruth Dallas had "vibrant conversations" in the house in the "pokey little back street".
"It’s a significant place but it’s under the radar."
After the Caselbergs died, neighbours, including Ms Hirst, set up a trust and bought the house to make it an artist’s residence.
The house took two years to renovate with voluntary labour, electricians and builders doing weekend work.
"There was a lot to do."
The residents in the past eight years have included composers, musicians, poets and visual artists.
An annual three-month residency comes with an $8000 stipend.
The artist selected for the 2017 residency is Dunedin jeweller Victoria McIntosh, who would be the first artist to use the new studio in April.
"We’ll have a grand opening just before she moves in," Ms Hirst said.
Behind the house is a Victorian crib, where writer and editor Charles Brasch lived between 1959 and 1973.Brasch and the Caselbergs were "really good friends" and when Brasch moved, Mrs Caselberg used the crib as her studio, Ms Hirst said.
"The connections between Charles Brasch and Anna and John Caselberg was huge."
The crib was now in private hands, leaving the house without a studio.
Consequently, visual artists had to work on the kitchen table for the past eight years.
"We didn’t have anywhere for them to set up an easel. We needed a place for people to go in, sit down and do the work, so this is huge," she said.
The trust raised funds for two years to get the $75,000 needed to build the studio and many people were generous including the locals.
"People out here on the peninsula — I have to say are amazing ... it’s a real community out here and people believe in the excitement that comes from the arts."
